1. Technical Field
The present invention relates in general to the field of data processing systems and in particular to data processing systems designed to be utilized with multiple sets of keys and characters. Still more particularly, the present invention relates to data processing systems which permit the rapid and efficient sorting of keys and characters from different national languages in a culturally predictable manner.
2. Description of the Related Art
It has long been recognized that the accommodation of new and different national user requirements in data processing systems is quite important. So-called National Language Support (NLS) has been a goal of many computer manufacturers for a number of years. However, NLS is far more than the mere conversion of a system to a second language. In order to truly support a national language, it is necessary to provide a universal product which may be adapted to any particular market. A true National Language Support product must operate with immunity from any problems which arise due to the use of different sets of characters or words. Such as system must include facilities to render the interacting characters or words different for each language. A National Language Support data processing system must permit the manufacturer to readily install each set of characters and to efficiently change from one set of characters to another set of characters. These multiple character sets must be serviceable and facilities must be provided to test and assure the various design implementations which result.
There exists a growing market requirement for data processing systems which include National Language Support due to the increased number of people operating computer systems who do not speak English or speak only limited English. Additionally, computer customers generally desire to become self-sufficient in installing and utilizing computer products and as a result, it is necessary to implement the data processing system and its support information in a manner which will permit this.
One problem which exists with all previous attempts at National Language Support data processing systems is the inability of such systems to provide a consistently predictable and usable list of characters during any type of sort routine. One traditional approach to this problem is the binary sort in which the binary code representative of each character is utilized as the ranking value for that character during a sort. This technique produces a predictable result; however, the binary value of each character does not necessarily result in a sort which is immediately usable by the computer operator.
One effort to correct this problem has resulted in the shared weight technique whereby all graphic characters are grouped into families. Each group will have a unique binary weight, whether or not the character includes a diacritic mark or other indication that it should be treated differently. This technique results in a search which is intrinsically more appealing in its ordering; however, the results are not predictable due to the inability of such a system to distinguish between two characters which may be substantially different in a grammatical sense.
An additional problem which exists in such National Language Support (NLS) data processing systems is the inability of such systems to provide a culturally predictable list of characters during any type of sort routine. Many national language systems have idiosyncratic keys or characters which, in the cultural environment of that language should be ordered in a manner which is not similar to that which would occur in an English language based system.
Therefore, it should be apparent that a need exists for a National Language Support (NLS) data processing system in which each key or character within the system may be sorted in a consistent and culturally predictable manner.